Edward William Johnston (50) was killed by the police on a beach in the seaside town of St Julian’s in the early hours of Monday after a three-hour stand-offBodycam footage that shows Johnston’s last words to police is now under investigation Mr Johnston had confessed to murdering his ex-partner earlier that evening
Edward William Johnston (50) was killed by the police on a beach in the seaside town of St Julian’s in the early hours of Monday after a three-hour stand-off.
The investigation focused on his final movements, which were recorded by the bodycam, has revealed that Johnston held a replica of a Beretta pistol up, before pointing his gun at the police and saying: “Are you ready? Because I am”.
He was shot three times at 3am by the police officers who believed his actions to be a warning that he was about to open fire on them, investigation sources told the Times of Malta.
“In that moment, in pitch black darkness, police couldn’t have possibly known that his gun couldn’t shoot and considering that they had just been informed he had really killed a woman that night, they had every reason to interpret those words as a direct threat on their life,” one source told Times of Malta, saying that police weren’t aware the gun was a replica at the time.
The bodycam footage is now a part of the investigation into the case.
Nicolette Ghirxi (48), Mr Johnston’s former partner, had been stabbed to death in an apartment in Birkirkara a couple of hours earlier as two knives were found nearby.
Birkirkara is a town about 7km west of the capital Valletta.
The sources told the Times of Malta that Mr Johnston had gone to the Hilton Hotel in St Julian’s at around 11.30pm and asked for a drink at the hotel’s Vista Lobby Lounge, overlooking the sea.
He was told by the bartender that the bar was closed. The staff member later left the bar for a short moment to check with colleagues.
Upon their return, Johnston pulled out a gun and said: “Get me a beer or I’ll shoot you”. He left the hotel and is believed to have jumped down to the ground from a nearby roof. However, the exact interactions with the hotel staff are still being investigated.
Police were alerted when they received a report of a man in St Julian’s wielding a gun and saying he had murdered someone.
Police commissioner Angelo Gafa told a news conference earlier this week that Johnston told police he had murdered a woman.
A police negotiator was brought in and two police teams were deployed, one to Birkirkara, where they found the woman’s apartment door locked and had to break in to find the victim dead.
The other unit was deployed to the Hilton. Police cordoned off the area behind the Hilton as Johnston was found on the rocks behind the hotel, the police commissioner has said.
Johnston jumped into the sea and pointed a gun at his head and despite police negotiators descending on the scene, he leapt at one of the officers, resulting in him being shot. He was transported to Mater Dei Hospital and was later confirmed dead, Mr Gafa confirmed.
“When he said those words and pointed the gun at the police he knew he was provoking them to shoot him, because that is what police do when faced with a threat like that, all the while knowing he had nothing to fire back with,” the source said.
Ms Ghirxi’s family have said Johnston began harassing his former partner when she ended a two-year relationship between them. They alleged he ran a number of fake social media accounts which were used to harass and slander Ms Ghirxi.
She filed police reports on two occasions with regard to her former partner, Maltese police confirmed.
There were no previous reports of violence between the two but in April, Ms Ghirxi filed two harassment reports against Johnston after receiving some emails from him when they broke up.
However, she decided against carrying out a risk assessment, telling police and social welfare officials she did not believe she was at risk.
She filed another report of harassment in May, again linked to emails. At the time, police established that Johnston was not in Malta, Mr Gafa said, describing the emails as being harassment but not of a threatening nature.
In July, the victim again contacted police about a number of slanderous social media posts about her and said she suspected Johnston. Last Thursday, she told police by email that Johnston may be in Malta.
Post-mortems are still taking place and investigations are ongoing.
With additional reporting from the Times of Malta
